THE political crisis in Pakistan has deepened after the Government's
anti-corruption agency sought a warrant for the arrest of the country's
Interior Minister.

Officials from the National Accountability
Bureau asked for permission to arrest Rehman Malik, the minister in
charge of law and order and the war on terrorism.

The move
followed a supreme court ruling last week that overturned an amnesty
introduced by General Pervez Musharraf, the former president, to enable
the late former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and her senior aides to
return from exile in 2007.

Under the deal, more than 8000 cases, including corruption, were dropped.

A
number of other leaders of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) were
also summoned to appear before the courts over long-standing corruption
charges.

The latest blow for the Government came on Friday,
shortly after the Defence Minister was stopped from leaving the country
for an official visit to China.

The supreme court also urged the
Government to invite the Swiss Government to reopen money laundering
cases against Asif Ali Zardari, the President.

The scale of the
crisis and the speed with which it has unfolded has prompted supporters
of Mr Zardari to question the role of the judiciary and speculate on
whether the army is behind the legal challenge to the Government. Some
even spoke of a ''creeping coup'' unfolding.

''It's complete
[judicial] control now,'' said Asma Jahangir, chairman of the Human
Rights Commission of Pakistan. ''The issue is whether the [democratic]
system is going to pack up again.''

The National Accountability
Bureau, the official anti-corruption watchdog, applied for an arrest
warrant for Mr Malik on corruption allegations going back over a decade.

The
court summoned Mr Malik to appear next month, after his lawyer gave an
assurance the Interior Minister would attend the hearing.

Mr Malik had three cases dropped under the amnesty. One of the allegations involved the ''embezzlement'' of $US165,000.

On
Thursday, Ahmed Mukhtar, the Defence Minister, was physically prevented
from boarding a flight for an official visit to China.

The two ministers are key Western allies for Pakistan's role in the fight against al-Qaeda.

Mr
Malik, Mr Mukhtar and Mr Zardari were all said to be beneficiaries of
the rules that led to the wiping away of thousands of corruption
charges.

Mr Mukhtar, however, claims that his name was mistakenly put on the list of beneficiaries.

PPP
leaders suspect the judiciary has collaborated with the military in a
move to oust Mr Zardari, who is unpopular among Pakistan's
establishment. The army has repeatedly denied it has any intention to
interfere in politics.

Pakistan in crisis? How's that possible? I thought the US was in there taking care of things and making sure that there was no more crisis. Well, maybe, we should send in more drones and kill more wedding parties so as to appease them and have that everything go back to normal.